Delcy Rodríguez, Hails Socialist Lula as Proof Latin America Rejects Extremism
After María Corina Machado’s return to Venezuela on Sunday, interim president Delcy Rodríguez used a hospital visit in Caracas to attack the United States and praise Brazil’s leftist leader.
Rodríguez, who took power after the January 3 U.S. operation that removed Nicolás Maduro, described that event as an external bombing and military aggression while calling for a “new spirituality” that rejects what she labels extremism.
She stated: “I have said it since the first day of the month of January. After the external bombing that Venezuela suffered, that external military aggression, I have said it. Venezuela needs a new spirituality.” She then pivoted to Brazilian politics: “I want, from Venezuela, in that new spirituality, well, to congratulate once again President Lula da Silva and the people of Brazil. Because Brazil gave a lesson that neither extremisms nor fanaticisms of any kind are imposed. It is a healthy society that has given a message to the world and above all to the peoples of our Latin America and the Caribbean and of this region.”
The remarks come as Machado, the Nobel laureate opposition leader who spent months in exile, drew large crowds upon re-entering the country and signaled readiness for talks.
Rodríguez’s government has operated with U.S. recognition of the interim arrangement, yet she continues to frame the removal of Maduro as unprovoked aggression while aligning with Lula, whose recent electoral victory President Trump has publicly questioned.
The contrast highlights the gap between the rhetoric of the Maduro-era holdover and the political opening that enabled her current position.- DTP